Names In Adiga's The White Tiger

For some, a name represents a personality. A name can help determine a persons place in the world. It can influence what type of person they choose to be. In The White Tiger, Aravind Adiga chooses to give his protagonist a plethora of names to emphasize his changing personalities. Each name gives insight into the changing complexities of the protagonist’s identity. Adiga purposefully chooses the names in order to represent how the reader sees the protagonist. The multiple names come to represent the different sections of the protagonist’s life, from a young boy, to a servant, to a successful business entrepreneur. Throughout The White Tiger, Adiga uses the changing name of the protagonist to give insight into his ever changing situations and
Given this name by his teacher, Balram is meant to represent the protagonists place as a servant. The teacher, whose name is Krishna, gives him this name because it of the mythology behind it: “He was the sidekick of the god Krishna” (11). Balram is the name used by the protagonist for the majority of the book. This represents his servant mentality. Throughout the majority of the book, Adiga gives Balram the identity of a servant. While Balram knows he is special, as both his parents and the government official have told him this, however, he also understands how the darkness has the power to swallow up people of the darkness. Balram embraces his role as a servant because it is a better life to live than the one the “Munna” persona will give him. His work is undignified and dirty, but he completes it with a feeling of pride. The servant mindset, which he has gained from years of living in the darkness, keeps him confined. He does what is best for his master, not himself. He lives in deplorable conditions while his master lives next door in a mansion. He is even willing to wash his masters feet on command: “I had to heat water on the stove, carry it into the courtyard, and then lift the old man’s feet up one after the other and immerse them in hot water and then massage them both gently…” (60). Balram is a servant. He represents this through the way he talks, acts, and through the name he chooses to identify
Before he is pulled out to work, he is briefly given the name of “White Tiger”. A white tiger is a person who is special; being the white tiger sets him apart from the general public. For Balram’s entire life, his mother and father have told him that he is special. They believe he is going to become a real man, one who is not oppressed by the heavy weight of the darkness. This belief is further supported by his talent in school. His father makes sure he goes to school every day. He even goes to his classroom to kill the lizard that terrorized Balram. When a government official comes to inspect the school, he is amazed by Balram’s intelligence. He tells Balram, “You, young man, are an intelligent, honest, vivacious fellow in this crowd of thugs and idiots. In any jungle, what is the rarest of animals – the creature that comes along only once in a generation… the white tiger” (30). By giving Balram the name of white tiger, for a brief moment the government official is giving Balram the notion of a better future for himself. He doesn’t have to bend himself to conform to what tradition tells him he must do; he has the ability to escape and become his own person. The White Tiger persona gives Balram his quest for greatness and his motivation to escape the bonds of